Chris arrived in Salem in 1977 as a foreman at Anderson Manufacturing and
began seeing Mary Anderson. When Phyliss Anderson Curtis tried to bribe
Chris to stop seeing her daughter he refused, and even though he learned
she had had an affair with Neil Curtis he continued to see her.

In 1978 Chris left Anderson Manufacturing and formed his own company with the
help of Mary Anderson. However, after Bob suffered a heart attack Chris agreed
to return to Anderson after Bob asked him personally.

Later that year a new employee at Anderson, Stephanie Woodruff set her sight
on Chris, but Chris was committed to Mary Anderson. Chris eventually asked
Mary to marry him, but instead she turned him down and broke of their relationship.
Chris then moved in with Amanda Howard Peters, who was separated from her husband
Greg and returned to Salem. Soon after she moved in Mary fought to get Chris back,
and Mary and Chris began arguing, and when Chris hit Mary accidentally with his
jeep Amanda moved out.

When Amanda learned she was pregnant Chris proposed to her. Amanda went to Chicago
to divorce Greg, who refused thinking the baby was his. However Amanda learned
her pregnancy was a tubal one, and she lost the baby and was forced to undergo
a hysterectomy. Greg quickly divorced Amanda, and a depressed Amanda broke off her
relationship with Chris and left town.

In 1980 Chris began to work on the Solar Generator Project for Anderson, even though
Alex had stolen the prototype. When Bob Anderson died he left Chris in charge of
Anderson Manufacturing. Later Chris made Alex Marshall his business partner, and
began a romance with his secretary Leslie James. The two moved in together, but
Leslie quickly left
town after she was threatened by Jarvis Maxwell, a business associate of Alex
Marshall's who had plans to take over Anderson Manufacturing.

Fed up with the quarrels going on at Anderson, Chris quit Anderson and formed a
health club with Josh Fallon called "The Body Connection."

In 1982 Chris began dating Kayla Brady. Later he became the manager of Shenanigans.

In 1981 Jake Kosnitchek came to Salem about hearing of Chris' success with
his health club. He soon fell for Angel, one of Jessica Blakes when split
personalities. Jake and Jessica planned to elope, and ran off to Vegas to get
married, but the wedding was stopped by Marie and Alex who arrived just in time.
Jessica
then fell apart, and was hospitalized.

Jake's problems with Angel, and Jessica pushed him over the edge, and he began
to strangle women and send threatening letters and phone calls to Marlena telling
her they deserved to die. He even broke into Marlena's apartment and left a strangled
doll for her as a sign.

Later Jake tried to kill Renee Dumonde twice, once in a hot tub, another in the
hospital. Both attempts were interrupted though.

In 1982 Jake tried to kill Renee for the third time, but was once again interrupted.
Renee had seen Jake's face this time, but suppressed the memories. Tony DiMera
then hid Renee, fearing the Strangler would make a forth attempt.

Later that year Marlena decided to take a vacation in Mexico to get away from the
Strangler, who she feared would make her his next victim. Marlena however
really went to visit her parents in Colorado. When the Strangler, Jake Kosnitchek,
learned Marlena hadn't left for Mexico he went to Marlena's apartment to find her
there, and strangled her. However, when Marlena returned to Salem Jake realized
he had killed Marlena's sister Samantha, so he went back to Marlena's to
finish the job. Jake showed up at Marlena's with a gun, but when Roman Brady
noticed the incident and went in to save Marlena. Jake and Roman fought over the
gun, and when it went off Jake had been shot and killed.